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Downers Grove North tops York in second OT

The West Suburban Silver slugfest Friday between Downers Grove North and York that took two overtimes to decide featured plenty of high drama.

So it was probably only fitting that after 40 minutes of high-intensity action, it was the first basket of the game by Keenan Davis that proved to be the difference in the Trojans' 58-56 win on their home court over the Dukes.

"I told my staff that I hope they charged everyone on the way out," Downers Grove North coach Jim Thomas said, "because that was a heck of a high school basketball game. It is nerve-wracking as a coach, but it is enjoyable to watch."

Both teams had multiple opportunities to come away with the victory. Trailing by 5 entering the fourth quarter, York hit a trio of 3-pointers - two by Nathan Shockey and the third from Erik Cohn - to tie the score and then took a 1-point lead with 25 seconds left in regulation on a free throw by Sam Walsh.

But Semaj Henderson, who led all scorers with 29 points, split a pair of free throws with 2.6 seconds remaining to send the contest into overtime. Henderson added a bucket with 10 seconds left in the extra session to knot the score up again at 53 apiece.

In the second overtime Davis finally gave his team the lead for good with 22 ticks left on a layup off a pass from Trey Boston.

"It was a tough game," York coach Vince Doran said. "It seemed like we had a million opportunities, we just didn't finish. The effort was very good; it was just very frustrating.

"I'm not sure I've ever coached a game where we had that many opportunities to win it. We just didn't make it happen. It is disappointing, but hopefully we learn from it. We will move forward and hopefully get off to a good start at the Jack Tosh (holiday tournament)."

Henderson knocked down four 3-pointers, two in the first half as the Trojans took a 20-17 lead into the break. He also finished with 9 rebounds as Downers Grove North improved to 7-1 (2-1 in the Silver) after a disappointing loss to Glenbard West a week before.

"The big thing is we were able to pull it out," Henderson said. "That is one of the hardest games I've ever played in. York played such a good game, their defense, they have it down to a T. It's almost impossible to score. Once we went into overtime, coach was telling us to stay positive and keep going and we were able to come out with a win.

"We are trying to win conference and this was a great bounce-back. The whole team couldn't sleep (after the loss to Glenbard West), we were all mad at ourselves."

York (5-4, 1-1) was led by the 13 points of Walsh. Shockey and Cohn added 12 apiece. Boston also checked into double figures for the Trojans with 10.

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